Finally, to finish off clearing the links, here’s the potpourri of what remains:
- From the Umm, No Department: Forbes has an article on Dinner in the Sky, a dining experience that features a 200-foot-high crane that hoists a 22-person table 150 feet into the air, where “sky chefs” and flighty mixologists serve a four- or five-course meal as you dangle over LA Center Studios in Downtown LA. Just looking at the pictures gives me the willies.
- From the Color Me Home Department: It turns out the color you paint a room can have a significant effect on your home’s resale value. Lifehacker recently shared a study conducted by Zillow that analyzed photos from over 50,000 sold homes. Paying close attention to the colors of main rooms like the kitchen, bathroom, dining room, and living room, Zillow found that homes with yellow kitchens sold for around $1360 above their expected values, while homes with white kitchens fell an average of $82 short of their estimated values. The data also showed that homes with oatmeal or beige-colored bathroom walls came in $283 over value, while light green to khaki-colored bedrooms yielded an average of $1331 above expected value, and terracotta living rooms translated to around $793 less when all was said and done. One of the biggest discrepancies was with dining room paint colors, where shades of purple could put sellers $1122 above expected values, but certain shades of grey could place them $1122 below estimates.
- From the Free Concerts Department: If you have used Ticketmaster, free tickets (or at least some discounts) may be in your future. Log into your Ticketmaster account, and look for active vouchers. I did, and I had quite a number. However, all of the current free concerts were sold out; even if they weren’t, nothing was of interest. I might use their ticket discounts, however, for a future Hollywood Bowl event.
- From the Card Check Department: The DOD may be getting rid of the Common Access Card. It turns out that the barcode on the front contains PII, unencrypted.
- From the I Gotta Go Department: Do you think we should have this at our next Golf Tournament? A golf club that you can pee into for those times on the course when you just gotta go.
- From the Paying Your Dues Department: Our Men’s Club has eliminated dues, going instead to voluntary contributions — and it has been successful. We’ve tried to persuade our congregation, but no luck so far. Here’s an article on Ner Simcha, a Westlake congregation that has bit the bullet and eliminated dues. They are going on faith that it will work. At Temple Ner Simcha, everything will be free, including classes, services, events and High Holidays.
- From the Speed Monitoring Department: Have you been driving down the freeway, and seen a “Speed Observed by Aircraft” sign, and wondered if it was just a decoy. Wonder no more: It isn’t, but your odds are low of being caught unless you’re stupid.
- From the God Bless You Department: It appears the Ashman/Menken musical based on the Vonnegut novel “God Bless You Mr. Rosewater” may be revived. With James Earl Jones. Wow.
